Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-23
4 CENTURY OF LAW.
An Address Delivered by Judge Dillon
OF New York Before the Alabama
Bar Association.
improvements Made In tho Structure CT
our Massive Imposing, Ever Advanc-
Ing bu: ImperishabIe Jurisprudence.

MONTGOMERY, ALA Dec. IG-The
Alabama State Bsr Association met here
last HIgat. The annual address wac de-
liveEed by Judge John f. Dillon OF Nav
York. He said inst SIS il was the ce1tsn,
NAL Of the adoption Of the Federal cSnstis
tuition ne had selected as his subject "a
Century Of American Law" After re-
trOspection Of the general situation AID
coming to view OF the condition ofRn-
glish and American law 100 years age, he
said it was the time which produced
Blackstone commentaries, the first COM
pieted edition or which was published
just six years before the American R-v0-
luton. Asee1 GdCcrtiIg tc the baEeful
effects CT the feudal system upon the
English, part OF which We had csc ped ne
noticed the following changes upon sub
jects Of general and permanent import
snce within the century: Imprisonment
fur deb5 had been abolished, both in Great
Britain and AnleriC&, and in this leg.s,a-s
ti0n in America had led the way. BY WY
OF contrast he alluded 10 the modern pre-
emption snd homestead Laws of
the seversl states CT the nation.
Ucder the bepefiCert operation CT TIE
latter act more than 100,000,U00 sores Ct
lard lad been entered by $40. 900 heads OF
families. He mex adverted 70 The great
AID beneficent changes made within the
lest fifty Years in respect OF the right Of
married women. the pri3cip.q Of Ameri-
can morried woman's protection was in
1870 aud 1882 adopted 0y the Ecglish
Parliament. R-ferrirg to the criminal
law Of England 100 years ago he
showed that ct tI2s time neary
200 cffenses were cspitaI felories
ard that the laws were otherwise Cppres-
sive and severe. They have been grad
unllY amended. Al this time four of
lenses are cApitaliy punishable in En-
gland ard only two in this country. H
noticed the abolition Of common law
forms and the Changes made ny the codes
OF procedure in this country and
by the British judicature OF
1877, adopting tie principle of
the American codes Gs among the most
sanitary in the Law forms. lamentations
in the lGW OF evidence by which al per-
sons, including parties to suit, have been
inside competent witnesses, were regarded
a great improvement in legal admi1is-
t g ion in which England had led the way
and we had followed The growth OF
corporations WAS dWelt upon st length,
ard statistics given showing that nearly
half of the modern reported cases in
volve corporation law. He next traced /
the growth of legal literature in this
country. A century ago We
had no American law books; in
1856 We had published 1898
volumes Of reports against 5000 in Eng
land. Turning to the century to come,
he predicted many changes IN the laws,
among which would be the abolition of
literary piracy and systematic restste-
ment Of tie body Of our laws. He ap-
pealed to the young men to
take up this great work, and
concluded By saying: "Msyhaps some
young man hears ne to-day, gifted be-
yond the common lot with an eye couched
to that higher snd wider sweep that will
take IN al the constructive possibilities
Of the rich and scattered materials Of our
la @s, and be so fortunate as tOlesve upon
the massive, imposing, ever advancing,
but imperishable structure OF our juris-
prudence some visible imprint, some en-
bodied memorial OF his genius as well So
his Iabors F"